The Criminal Court has sentenced 19 Kuwaitis to 10 years in prison after they were found guilty of fighting alongside the Daesh terror group in Syria. None of the defendants was at the court amid reports they were all abroad.

The public prosecutor in his charges said that the defendants carried out an act of hostility against a foreign country (Syria), joined the banned Daesh group, were trained in a Daesh camp on using weapons and ammunition, battles and the destruction of military equipment.

Such actions could expose Kuwait to the risk of war and to the severance of diplomatic ties with a foreign country, he added. The defendants also joined forces with a banned group to disseminate principles aimed at the illegal destruction of the basic foundations of Arab states and the forcible assault on their social and economic order, the prosecutor said, Kuwaiti daily Al Seyassah reported on Tuesday.

They were also well aware that the training on the use of firepower meant they would be used to combat the Syrian armed forces and to overthrow the Syrian regime in preparation for the establishment of the Daesh state.

Sources told Al Qabas daily that the Kuwaiti authorities were now looking into the files of dozens of people who left the northern Arabian Gulf state more than six months ago and became involved in terrorism. “Some of those who are being monitored had left for Europe on academic scholarships or went abroad as companions for patients who needed medical treatment and then moved to zones of conflicts,” the sources were quoted as saying.
“Whenever there is enough evidence against any of these suspects, his case is readily transferred to the public prosecution and to a court of justice without waiting for his return home or his extradition.”

Cases, where there is no evidence that the suspect was killed or held captive in a conflict zone, are being delayed, the sources added.